My own Swarm missles locked me

I rearranged some keys today - in the middle of killing fields where I was alone - and then flew back to the BOTs. When I got towards a bunch of them I fired a swarm missile and the bullets were slower than I as I was at top speed. But then I heard the locking tone and the yellow brackets. I was like "huh - from where" but then they were behind me when I turned around. Then the same happened 2 times again until i realized: The swarm missiles that locked me were shot from myself!

Re: My own Swarm missles locked me

I mentioned this to Scott a while back, for me it was busters, which were easier to get to home on you because they are slow.I believe it was fixed in that they have to lock on to another target before they can lock on to you. (So a skilled pilot can hit a player with their missiles - in theory)

So maybe what is happening is they are going:1) Enemy a long way away, lock on to him2) Hey look, a much nicer target right in front of me! Lock on to him3) Bleeeep bleeep bleep BBBOOMMM!!! (Or BOOM Whosh if it's a buster)

Re: My own Swarm missles locked me

The Mark Target feature seems to: - Marks the guy you most recently damaged? Or at least it seems to be a close one that you've been shooting. - Turns him purple on the HUD - Give your homing missiles a bias towards him

Re: My own Swarm missles locked me

sdfgeoff wrote:

I mentioned this to Scott a while back, for me it was busters, which were easier to get to home on you because they are slow.I believe it was fixed in that they have to lock on to another target before they can lock on to you. (So a skilled pilot can hit a player with their missiles - in theory)

So maybe what is happening is they are going:1) Enemy a long way away, lock on to him2) Hey look, a much nicer target right in front of me! Lock on to him3) Bleeeep bleeep bleep BBBOOMMM!!! (Or BOOM Whosh if it's a buster)

^ Yes, that.

Although the missiles won't switch targets (#2) unless they lose their lock on their current target. Probably the distant target they had locked cloaked or moved behind an obstruction.

But yes, in an Anarchy match your missiles can lock on to you (in team games they never track their own team, because it would really suck for your teammates if you tossed a bunch of homing missiles into a fight; although I could consider changing that). And yes, the idea is to allow a good pilot to persuade an incoming missile to lock onto the enemy who shot it.

As for the Mark Target feature, it marks the selected target in purple. In Anarchy, it's just for you. This can be useful for keeping track of a particular target, allowing you to focus on them until they are dead. In a team game, the target is marked for your whole team. This is intended to promote good team play. Again, use it to single out specific targets for coordinated attack (which is a very effective team strategy).

The target to mark is selected by use of the targeting reticle. The target closest to the crosshair will be marked.

And no, actually, the mark has no effect on homing missiles; although that is an interesting idea.

Re: My own Swarm missles locked me

And there is a clear example of the Placebo effect, as well as a place where Okkams Razer needed to be applied.

The targets are marked in a similar way to how the homing missiles decide who to track. Thus I concluded, that because homing missiles had a tendency to home on marked people, that it influenced how they homed. Cause and effect....